Well-being

What exactly is well-being and how do we curate and maintain it? There is no definitive answer to this of course; people will have their own route to well-being. As a question though it is one we could all do with holding in mind each day; a sort of lingering compass to keep us oriented in the right direction.

Being around friends and family, collapsing into the sofa after a long walk with a hot drink or having a pet to care for are all things which may bring with them a sense of well-being for us. A warm feeling of contentment that fills us in the moment and makes the troubles of yesterday feel smaller and further away.

For me, well-being is opposed to what Jean-Paul Sartre referred to as ‘living in bad faith’. My sense of well-being emanates from an intention to hold this idea of bad faith in mind and to act as best I can to counter that way of life.

For Sartre, to live in bad faith was to deny oneself the opportunity to live authentically. We can often sell ourselves on the idea that we are a fixed point without agency. Sartre’s example of this was the waiter who told himself that he was just a waiter, that was his identity and he had no choice but to continue with it.

Bad faith extends beyond professional potential; it applies to any area of life where we ignore the quiet voice within. That part of us which always has our best interests at heart and isn’t held back by fear or self-doubt.

The trouble is, it’s quiet and the head tends to yell while the heart softly whispers. We therefore often find ourselves acting in bad faith without realising it and selling ourselves on behaviours, life choices, beliefs and narratives that might sound convincing (most of all to ourselves) but are merely protecting us from the pain of growth, changing the familiar and reaching unmet potential.

For me then, my definition of well-being in as much as what my life has taught me about it is that it comes from willingly becoming curious about that which gives me a sense of discomfort. At the very least trying to strive for that and checking in with myself as often as I can to see if that is what I am actually doing, or have I gone and pulled the wool over my eyes again and returned to bad faith. Authenticity lies at the heart of well-being and Sartre’s idea of bad faith is the guide I use to keep me pointing in that direction that each day.